Clive Owen and Frank Miller Do 'Business'

Owen and Miller previously worked together on the comic book veteran's adaptation of "Sin City."

Back in January, Universal and Strike Entertainment acquired rights to Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels, including "The Big Sleep" and "Farewell My Lovely." Rather than going with one of Chandler's previously adapted works, Variety reports that the companies settled on the novella "Trouble Is My Business," a tale of mystery and intrigue that only became a Marlowe tale in a later publication.

"Trouble" pre-dates Chandler's better known Marlowe adventures and the film could launch a franchise for Owen and Miller.

Famous for his own hard-boiled prose, Miller has become one of Hollywood's most in-demand scribes since the success of "Sin City" and "300." He's attached to write and direct Will Eisner's classic comic "The Spirit," while working on a script to co-direct a second "Sin City" feature with Robert Rodriguez. In addition, director Sylvain White ("Stomp the Yard") has been linked to a big screen version of the writer's relatively unfilmable "Ronin."

Up next for Owen are the self-explanatory New Line action film "Shoot-'Em-Up" and the "Elizabeth" sequel "The Golden Age." He's got Tom Tykwer's "The International" on his plate for Columbia Pictures.